Search This Blog

What Is It That You Do, and Where Can I Download It For Free?

It's time to acknowledge that we really are in a brave new world when it comes to online media.

As I drove into work this morning, Weekend Edition was discussing "pay to play" on online content, specifically Slate's new "Slate Plus" subscription model. It's remarkably like a public radio membership, right down to the free mug. What really struck me was the honesty of the NPR commentator, that Slate had risen to be a very real "competitor" in a sense to NPR.

Then, I headed in to the IFP Minnesota Filmmaker Conference, where the keynote speech was by James Belfer of Dogfish Accelerator, discussing production financing models for indie films (a great keynote, by the way, because "Where is the money coming from?" is kind of crucial to any project.) James is a kind of scruffy, indie guy himself, and the conceit of his talk was about myths and realities in film production — and he was very clear that he had learned many of these lessons the very, very hard way. In the hour I was there I took away eleven great points, so expect some more blog posts about them soon. But one of his key points was about the myth of access, and how giving things away can actually, counter-intuitively, increase your sales.

I didn't need to be converted on that point. It's been a point of discussion between Patrick and myself for a long time. I love coupons, and will happily buy any toothpaste that's on sale; a free tube of it will not convert me to lifetime of preference. But give me a sense of what you are doing artistically, and nine times out of ten I'll be back. Let me download the first book in your series for free and I'll get hooked and buy the rest (heck, Kindle, this even works with sample chapters!); comp me to your best play and I bet I'll be back for the the next one; give me a free song download and I've purchased the whole album on iTunes before you know it. Even better, this more basic, accessible platform allows me to try out new artists I had not heard of before, and allows those artists to reach out to me in new ways. I know I'm only one data point, but I know I'm not alone.

The interesting thing is that, as I was tweeting conference remarks, and a tweet from Rainbow Rowell comes up in my stream (full disclosure, I think Rowell is an incredible author). The tweet reads:

When people complain about having to pay for art or content, I think, "What do you do for a living? Where can I download that for free?"

And just like that, I'm realizing that this whole thing is not so simple. I'm a fervent advocate of artists being paid for their work. But I'm also a believer in empowering them to reach out to their own audiences, behind the Oz-like curtain that distributors and other publicity can become. I think artists are all the stronger when they take their relationships into their own hands — yet I understand that not all want to do so, or have that as their skill set.

How to reconcile the two?

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The other day I posted on a neighborhood page:Our Little Free Library has been totally pillaged lately - as in, someone comes every day and totally cleans it out to take it to Half Price Books or something. I think we're going to close it down for awhile, which bums me out.
And I do mean "totally pillaged." I love it when the books fly off our shelves —it means that people are reading — but this was about the 12th time in the past couple of months that someone had completely cleared it from stem to stern. I'm a voracious reader, when everything from an ABC board book to old-school westerns to Faulker's As I Lay Dying all go in one fell swoop, I know that something is up.

After I posted, I noticed that a LOT of people were posting in neighborhood pages about this. Especially in my neighborhood, it seems like one person is coming along and emptying everyone out.

I'm starting to seem like one of the awesome Minnesota Theater Bloggers with my frequency of theater blogs (yeah, I only wish!), but I can't stop thinking about Refugia at the Guthrie last night. Thanks to my years at Jeune Lune I've known Dominique Serrand for over half my life, and it was clear to me last night that this was the play that he has wanted to create for at least that long a time. I'm stopping just short of calling it his magnum opus (because I hope there's a lot of great work left of his to see), and I don't want to take away from the other great work he's directed and co-created over the years, but this is the most significant and complete piece he's directed.

I need to start by saying that the Guthrie was the most lively and intense I had ever seen it last night. With three stages active (Refugia on the proscenium, The Bluest Eye in the thrust, and Mu's Charlie Chan in the Dowling studio, plus some prom photos being taken), the lobb…

After a glass of wine tonight, I was reflecting on how our ideals have become a household:

- Patrick and myself, who met later in life, whose ideas are often counter-instinctual (i.e. minimalism vs. semi-hoarder), but whose values are almost identical and who love each other fiercely;
- Our daughter, a crazy mix of both of us and her own ideals;
- Our wonderful housemate, who has been gone on vacation for not even 48 hours and who I already miss greatly;
- 4 fish (enough said);
- Crazy rescue dogs Coya (heroically rescued by our friend Wendy from a cruel backyard breeder) and neurotic Winston (equally heroically rescued by our friend Sandy after being dumped)
- Cats Mimi (found at the doorstep), Belle (who we took in for a friend) and Dandelion (who we found on CraigsList), and now new foster kitty Tiger Lily, already settling in.

Add tho those:
- Our amazing network of friends and family, who we love to pieces and see too little;
- Our client base, many of whom have become fr…